Freaks
by WritingThroughMyAnxiety
Summary: "Am I a freak?"


"Am I a freak?" Erica's words were barely a whisper as she clutched at her knees. Her plaid skirt had lifted up slightly when she had sat down and a small amount of pale thigh could be seen. She wiped her tearstained cheeks with the sleeve of her black sweater and turned to face Derek properly. He had his arm over the back of their bench and was blocking her from the other students on the bus, his broad shoulders hiding her from any onlooker and his stern glare scaring away anyone he noticed.

He shook his head, "No," He said, "You're not a freak at all." His words were a promise that made her heart flutter. She didn't know what she would do without Derek. The idea of surviving high school certainly seemed unlikely.

She sighed and slumped down in her seat slight. Today had been rough on both of them. They had started the day with Derek running from the group of college students that liked to harass him on his street. The leader of the group, Ennis, had it out for Derek ever since his older sister had turned him down. Apparently the shot at his pride had meant that he had to compensate for it in some way, and he couldn't kick the crap out of her, so Derek had to suffer instead. When they had finally got on the bus, someone had sneaked gum into Erica's freshly straightened hair. They had been able to get it out, but it left a small kink of her natural curl in its place. She had to run through her hair with a brush until it all matched and now it was stuck in this weird wavy frizz on her head. She couldn't even tie it up because someone had stolen her hair scrunchy and she didn't have a spare.

When lunch came around, they thought everyone would be too busy talking amongst themselves to notice either of them. They had been wrong. Erica had been tripped over by someone on the lacrosse team, and before she could stop him Derek had start throwing punches. Starting tomorrow, Derek had to go to afterschool detention with the chemistry teacher, Mr Harris, for the next two weeks. Meanwhile, the boy on the team just had to run extra laps during lacrosse practice. Erica had a bruise on her knee forming from the fall and Derek had a brand new black eye. His last one had only just healed.

Erica looked around the bus and observed everyone around them. One of the most awkward things about catching the bus was that both of them got off for their stop by themselves. Derek had to go first and was generally met with cruel comments and paper aeroplanes thrown at his head. Then Erica had to go two stops later, there were mocking whistles and whispered insults that made her want to run home and cry for an hour. Sometimes she did.

She noticed Stiles Stilinski sitting near the front of the bus, gesturing and yapping to a small group of his friends with a wide smile on his face. Maybe he was talking about _Batman_ or _Star Wars_ again. She turned to Derek, "You ever going to tell him?" She asked, nodding over at Stiles even though they both knew who she was talking about.

Derek's crush on Stiles had been a secret for four months. Only Erica knew and she wasn't going to blab something so personal around just so she could get some of the heat off her for a few weeks.

Derek looked over Stiles and sighed. A gentle and warm expression went over his usually harsh features and he held back a smile, like he could hear what they were saying and didn't want to draw attention to himself by laughing, but that was insane. They were right near the front and the two of them were sat near the back. He bit at his bottom lip and looked down at his lap before shaking his head, ashamed by his own cowardice. His shoulders slumped, "No," He said, "Can't – I don't have the nerve yet."

Erica nodded in understanding.

"Have you thought about telling…?" He trailed off as he nodded his head towards the very back of the bus where Allison Argent sat with her two friends, Lydia and Kira, laughing amongst themselves happily. She was wearing a pretty summer dress and a lilac cardigan, the sleeves of which were too long and cover her dainty hands, with her hair pulled up into a messy bun. She looked beautiful, as usual.

"No." She said, and that was that. The two sat in silence for a moment, wallowing in their self-pity. Erica cleared her throat and forced a smile, "Can I take a picture?"

Derek shrugged, "Sure."

She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone, an old and less expensive model of the phone that everyone else had at their school. She faced the lens of the camera onto their knees and moved closer to Derek so that their legs were pressed up together and snapped the photo. Checking to make sure they both liked it – they did – she placed her phone back in her bag and looked out the window.

"We're at your stop." She said sadly.

"Yeah," Derek sighed, "I'll see you tomorrow." He promised as the bus pulled to a stop and he made his way off the bus, dodging two paper aeroplanes and trying not to react to the comments yelled at him. Erica noticed that he kept his head down when he walked past Stiles, hiding the bruise on his face.

She lowered herself in her seat. She was next.


End file.
